Parkland Memorial Hospital is lined with 43,631 metres of
Acrovyn Handrails, Crash Rails and Corner Guards and 500
metres of Acrovyn 4000 sheet. The hospital’s transformation
resulted in a high level of durability that meets the
hospital’s rigorous environmental standards.

Built in 1954, Parkland Memorial Hospital’s one million
square foot facility housed an ageing infrastructure that left
few options for renovation. When re-envisioning the facility,
the project’s architects, HDR + Corgan, and contractors, Balfour
Beatty Construction, Austin Commercial, H.J. Russell & Co. and
Azteca Enterprises Inc. (BARA), worked within strict
environmental standards to deliver major improvements that will
last decades.

Today, the new 862-bed Parkland Memorial Hospital is one of
the largest public hospitals in the United States at 213,677
square metres. To ensure the new hospital’s corridors and walls
were environmentally friendly, durable and could withstand
constant use by more than 30,000 patients each day, the team
turned to Construction Specialties (CS) for over 27 miles of
extruded material and nearly 500 metres of Acrovyn Sheet.

The design team was tasked with creating a high-end space
that met strict functionality and durability requirements. The
facility, which faces more than one million patient visits each
year, needed to last at least 50 years despite intense use.
Feedback was gathered for specific interior spaces from numerous
professionals and stakeholders such as patients, families and
nurses to ensure the design fit well. The sheer size and level
of use of the new Parkland Memorial Hospital played a
significant role in how the interior design unfolded.

The Parkland team made extensive use of physical mockups that
began before the project broke ground to ensure that specific
spaces were sized properly. The results include rooms that are
33 square metres, with spacious family zones. The facility is
lined with PVC-free Acrovyn 4000 Sheet, Handrails, Crash Rails
and Corner Guards.

Securing environmentally friendly products from CS was
essential. "We based our specifications around Acrovyn because
the product was PVC-free without an upcharge and this standard
was critical for us," said Kathy Harper, vice president of
clinical coordination for Parkland Health & Hospital System.
"Very few products have the quality that CS is known for.
Parkland was designed with patient needs in mind, and that was
how we chose all of the materials to build our facilities," said
Harper.